"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Remembering and Honoring Laura Inés Pollán Toledo

“I have read somewhere that in a totalitarian system martyrdom does better than thought.” - Václav Havel

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (1948 - 2011)

Three years later
and the forces of repression still tremble before the memory of the 65
year old wife, mother and school teacher. Watching Laura Inés Pollán Toledo in the video below and one begins
to understand the existential threat she and the Ladies in White represent to the
totalitarians in Cuba.

She was a former school teacher turned human rights defender
and international pro-democracy figure who courageously and
nonviolently confronted Castro's half century old totalitarian
dictatorship and paid for it with her life.

Today at 12 noon at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity (Ermita de la Caridad) located at 3609 South Miami Ave. Miami, Fl. 33133 will have a special Mass for Laura Inés Pollán Toledo and one can expect activities around Cuba in her honor.

The third anniversary of Laura's passing coincides with the Forum 2000 gathering in Prague and listening to the voices of courageous activists from China, Cuba, Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela and elsewhere demonstrates that her cause of freedom spans the world.

At the same time tonight at Casa Bacardi at 7pm Ángel Carromero will be presenting a book on the events surrounding the deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012.